Mathematics

Welcome

After a period of renovation, The Department of Mathematics is back on the second floor of the Herzberg building. Come check us out! Math teacher offices are conveniently located around a spacious student study area, encouraging students to work and seek help as needed. Check the college directory (search “Math”) for the location of specific math teachers’ offices. Here is a map to help you find your way around (click to enlarge):
All Math teachers have their schedules posted outside their offices, which indicate when they are in class and when you can expect them to be available. Teachers have regular office hours scheduled when their students may drop in for help. In addition, many teachers indicate times when they will come in if their students make appointments with them in advance. You will find that an unofficial “open door” policy is in effect in the Math Department: an open office door indicates an offer to help.

The Math Help Centre, located in H-200A, is a place where students can drop in and get math help (no appointment required!) The Math Help Centre is staffed by all of our teachers on a rotating basis. A schedule for the Help Centre is available by clicking on this link.

Other materials in the form of course texts, solution manuals, study guides, and emergency short-term calculator loans are available from 11:30 to 4:00 daily at the Math Resource Desk, attended by Karli Whitmore. Please note that you need your John Abbott I.D. card to borrow materials. Overnight loans can be arranged for some items.

For practical reasons, eating and drinking are not permitted in the Study Area.

About Our Stained Glass Window

When you visit the Mathematics Department at John Abbott College, take a look above the door — you’ll see one of the treasures of the college, the stained glass window we feature on our webpage. It was created around 1983 by John Lehmann, a Fine Arts instructor at the college who was commissioned by the Math Department to design and create a window based on the theme “Mathematics and its place in the world”.

Take a look at the design, and you will see some familiar images, and some perhaps less familiar. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Man in Square and Circle” illustrates mathematical proportions in art, the T-square and dividers illustrate the use of geometry in architectural and engineering design, toroidal surfaces illustrate unusual reference frames, and Venn diagrams (the intersecting sets) represent set theory and logic, which are fundamental concepts in computer science, which is also represented by the old-style computer cards (Hollerith cards aka punch cards). Don’t miss an old favorite, Pythagoras’ Theorem.

We’re proud to be the home of this artwork, and hope it serves as a reminder that Mathematics has a scope far beyond what is covered in a few college courses. And it’s a delight to the eye.

Yu Zhao

Course Outlines

The Department of Mathematics offers courses for Social Science, Science, Arts and Sciences, Double DEC: Science and Social Science, Liberal Arts, Biopharmaceutical Production Technology, Computer Science Technology, Engineering Technologies, and Pathways. For more details, please visit the appropriate sections of the Course Calendar.

Below, you will find the most recent course outline for each course offered by the Department of Mathematics. Note that for multi-section courses, information specific to each section (for example meeting times, instructor contact info, and dates of major evaluations) will be located in an addendum provided by the instructor.

Descriptions and outlines for discontinued courses are included at the bottom of this section, for archival purposes.

201-103-77 Calculus I for Aircraft Maintenance
This course includes a review of linear and quadratic functions, limits and continuity of functions; definition of the derivative of a function; rules for finding the derivative of algebraic, trig, exponential and log functions; implicit and logarithmic differentiation; higher derivatives; tangent and normal lines, curvilinear motion, resultant velocity and acceleration, curve sketching, max-min and related-rates problems; definite and indefinite integrals; areas and work done by a variable force; velocity, distance, acceleration, current and voltage.

Old Exams

Final examinations from previous semesters are available here. Click on the name of the course to see the list of available exams.

Most exams have the answers at the end of the file. For some exams, the answers are contained in a separate file, in which case you will need to click “Answers” to see the answers.

More recent exams tend to be more representative of current expectations, as it is common for courses to experience some drift in topics and emphasis over time. If you suspect that a question from an older exam is outside of the current course content, ask your teacher for clarification.

Please tell your instructor about any problems you are having with these exams—and especially if you find a mistake in the answers!

Course Materials

The Math Department maintains an online repository of supplemental materials, such as exercise sets and notes on certain topics. Your teacher may direct you to access some of these, or you may find them helpful for independent study.

Click on a subject below to access the index of related supplemental materials.

Chenglong Zou and Julia Evans of John Abbott College placed, respectively, first and second in Québec in the 2005 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge; they were invited to sit the Canadian Mathematical Olympiad and the Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad.

Jaeho Lee placed 16th in the 2014 Concours AMQ, and was invited to a summer mathematics camp sponsored by the AMQ.